Servo - October 2010

EVENT REPORT: Robotic HORD Returns to Cuyah ga Valley Career Center

● by Chris Olin

The Ohio Robotics Club (ORC) — a member of the Robot Fighting League (RFL) hosted the House of Robotic Destruction (HORD) Spring 2010 at Cuyahoga Valley Career Center (CVCC) back in May of this year. This was the 11th event hosted by ORC and the 4th held at CVCC. Fourteen teams from five states brought 26 robots from the Flea (150 gram), Ant (1 lb), and Beetle ( 3 lb) weight classes to compete in a series of double elimination tournaments filled with mayhem and destruction.

CVCC students brought five robots to play, but only one of them finished with honors. CT Stompin, a cheese wedge bot driven primarily by Nick Staikoff, pushed its way to the semi-finals where it was then pitted with Meerkat Mreow, a rookie robot driven by Zach Witeof from Tipp City, OH. The CT Stompin crew took the third place prize, then dashed off to prom while Witeof advanced to the Ant weight finals where he faced ace driver Thomas Kenney and his highly acclaimed robot Gilbert. The Ant weight final was a fierce driving dual won by Kenney and Gilbert.

Kenney, a high school student from Franklin TN, proved his worth not only in the Ant weight

class, but also by taking second place in the Flea weight class with Mango Farmer, and second place in the Beetle weight class with Cloud of Suspicion. Mango, Gilbert, and C.o.S. are all four wheeled pusher-wedge bots that dominate their weight classes. Kenney and his robots have been dominating eastern US competitions for the past two years.